Hey all
My 40th birthday was a over a week ago and I promised to myself that I would not be fat anymore. So I decided to change my eating habits. I gave up my passion foods - sweets and soda pop. Well after a week of eating well balanced small meals and walking 5 days at 30 min each I have gained 1 pound! I am suppose to loose. What am I doing wrong? I feel like I will be fat forever. I weigh 174 lbs at I am 5 5". I am doing all that I am suppose to do. Drinking the water, watching the carbs, eating more protein, not eating after 7:00pm. Help someone. I am so depressed this morning!

Sorry to hear that you gained a lb. Is it that time of the month. If so you may be retaining water. Which means you lost but aren't showing it on a scale yet. Keep up the good work and see how this week goes. There are lots of threads here. You should find one that interests you for support. It really helps to know that your not in it alone, and that there is someone that is in the same boat. I am on Christian encouragers! We welcome all newbies. so, feel free to join us. We not only encourage each other about weight loss, but also try to support each other with prayer requests ect. Hope to see you pop in. There is another lady there named mitchypoo- short for michelle. Drop by and visit. Have an awesome day and keep your chin up! Sue

__________________Jesus is the bread of life! John 6:35 THANK HIM FOR HIS LOVE AND GRACE!See ya Later<><

Hi! Welcome to 3FC! If there is help to be had, you'll find it *somewhere* in this place.

If you have been pretty sedentary and you just started walking every day, more than likely you've actually put on a little muscle. Muscle weighs more than fat. So if you've been eating enough (that sounds weird, right, eating enough!?) so that your body hasn't been tossed into starvation mode, you're drinking plenty of water, and you're working out, then you are losing fat. But the gain of muscle might overshadow that for a little while.

If you aren't positive about your caloric intake, there's a great sight called www.fitday.com where you can track everything you eat so you make sure you're getting enough calories a day, but not too many. My intake now is at 1200-1400 a day, and I lost 2.5 pounds this week.

In any case, please don't feel too discouraged this early in the game. I went through the exact same thing when I started walking. I gained weight. Even though I knew intellectually why it was happening, emotionally it nearly drove me off my diet completely. It did ruin a weekend completely.

You can be successful in this - and this place and these folks can be more support than I'd ever imagined.

Go to www.kimberlysslimpickens.com and you can find out all kind of things. At the bottom of her site is a link to a dietician sight where you take this quiz and can figure out how many cal/ fat to take in for the amount of weight you want to lose.

I definitely agree with the previous posters, especially with using Fitday - the first day I used it I "thought" I was doing great & it turned out I had eaten like 2500 calories when I was thinking I was at 1500 max. You'll be amazed at the calories you're consuming, and Fitday makes it really really easy with some nice reporting, and it's free!

Also, you said you were "watching" carbs. What does that mean exactly? I tried the low-carb thing at one point, it was absolutely horrible on my body & I didn't lose any more weight than I am now without low-carbing (I'm actually losing faster now). What I watch are refined carbs now, complex carbs are the way to go!!!

One last thing - have you eaten things high in sodium, especially the night before you weighed in? A few weeks ago, I had two days of super high sodium intake, and even though I'd worked my butt off, I gained 4 lbs!!!!! I spent two days "detoxing" all the sodium, and I was down those 4 plus 2.

Don't give up, whatever you do!!! I'm an inch taller than you and I'd kill to weigh 174!! Seriously though, you're really close, it's a very reachable goal & you can definitely do it, just don't give up!

__________________ The harder you work, the harder it is to surrender.~ Vincent T. Lombardi ~

BTW, does anyone know where I can find a "small" calorie counter that I can take with me. I am still using one from "The Scarsdale Diet" book and I want something small that will fit in my purse. Thanks!!!